In December 2000, the Chair of ACCME, Thomas Kirksey MD, assigned a Task Force of Council Members to study the issues of content validation and eligibility for accreditation as part of the accreditation system. In November 2001, the Task Force issued a draft proposal on content validation asking for comment and input from providers and other interested parties. The call for comment period ended in March 2002.

Response was mixed with almost an equal split between those favoring the new proposal and those finding fault in the proposal. Most of the negative responses focused on the onerous task it would be for providers to have to review the content of every CME activity before it was presented. Most of the positive responders said that it was already being done or it could be implemented. Upon review of the wide range of responses, and the nature of the feedback, the Task Force proposed and the Council adopted an action plan in July 2002 to educate and inform providers about the issue of content validation and three statements that reflect the values of the accreditation process and will form the basis for the CME system's standards of practice regarding the validation of clinical content and the ACCME's determinations of eligibility for ACCME accreditation.

To view an annotated presentation that provides background and explanation about the final adopted ACCME policy, click here (This is a .pdf file -- Adobe Acrobat required)